Defense companies are the clear winners on the German stock exchange on Monday morning.

The shares of the tank manufacturer Rheinmetall jumped by 40 percent after Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a significant increase in arms spending at the weekend.

The papers from Hensoldt, a supplier of combat aircraft and helicopters, also rose sharply.

At the market opening, the price even doubled for a short time compared to the closing price on Friday.

After the first hours of trading, there is still a plus of 40 percent on the list.

Tim Kanning

Editor in Business.

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On the other hand, many other stocks are losing value given the escalating situation in the conflict between Russia and the West.

The tightened sanctions against Russia caused the leading index Dax to drop by 2.33 percent to 14,228 points in early trading.

It thus continued its volatility of the past trading days.

On Friday, the Dax had recovered by more than three and a half percent to 14,567 points due to a very vague hope for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, after falling to almost 13,800 points the day before due to Russia's attack on Ukraine.

Why bank stocks collapse

Bank stocks were among the biggest losers.

Deutsche Bank shares fell by more than 8 percent, continuing their downward trend of the past few days.

For Commerzbank it was more than 7 percent down.

The situation is similar for other European banks: BNP Paribas lost 8.53 percent and Société Générale even 9.70 percent.

In Italy it hit Unicredit, whose papers fell by 6.82 percent.

The crash in bank stocks is likely to have various reasons.

"The exclusion of Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system is not without economic consequences for the European banking sector," wrote Thomas Gitzel, chief economist at Liechtenstein-based VP Bank.

Their exclusion from international payment transactions means that these financial institutions can no longer pay their debts to their European creditors.

In addition, a general weakening of the European economy could have consequences for banks' lending business.

There is also a growing likelihood that central banks could slow down the interest rate hike they have just initiated, which would also be bad for the banks.

Since its interim high at the beginning of February, the Deutsche Bank share has already lost a fifth of its value.

Crisis winners on the stock exchange

The winner in the Dax was Delivery Hero.

The share of the loss-making food delivery service had recently suffered from the fact that its debt could become more expensive as a result of the interest rate turnaround.

Equities in the energy sector also continued to rise, which may be due to discussions about energy security amid fears of a halt to Russian gas supplies.

In the Dax, the papers of RWE rose by 3.8 percent, those of the power plant builder Siemens Energy by 4.2 percent.

In the S-Dax small-cap index, the shares of Verbio, Encavis, Nordex SMA Solar rose by up to 6 percent, all of which would benefit from a further expansion of renewable energies.

Share prices also collapsed at the start of the week on other European markets.

On the Vienna Stock Exchange, the leading index ATX fell by almost 5 percent.

It contains several companies that have close contacts with the Russian and Eastern European economy.

The Eurozone leading index EuroStoxx 50 recently buckled by 3 percent.

No trading in Moscow

The Moscow Stock Exchange will remain closed on Monday.

In view of the situation, trading will be suspended, the Russian central bank announced late Monday morning.

At first it was said that the markets should only start with a delay.

Securities dealers were also banned from processing sell orders from foreign shareholders in Russian companies.

According to the central bank, it wants to decide on Tuesday when trading should take place.

On Monday night, the European Union (EU) implemented its severe sanctions against the Russian central bank, including a ban on transactions with the financial institution.

In addition, all assets of the bank in the EU will be frozen.

Russian financial institutions will also be excluded from the SWIFT banking communications network.

The federal government made a U-turn at the weekend and is involved in arms deliveries to Ukraine.

The Bundeswehr is also to be better equipped and receive 100 billion euros as a special fund for investments and armament projects.